PART 1
I became interested in road steam engines in the early 1960s, having previously been a dedicated long-time trainspotter when such things were associated with schoolboys of that era. Perhaps, inevitably, I became a Sandwich Course student on a combined mechanical and electrical engineering course at Derby, being sponsored by British Railways. I then discovered that on the same course, a year or so in front of me, was another Yorkshire student, Cedric Lodge, who hailed from Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales. From time to time our paths crossed in Darlington Works where the North Eastern Region of BR sent their students for their works experience. Out of h ours and away from home, Cedric and I would occasionally meet in the local Darlington coffee bars to discuss our respective progress through the works and other aspects of our various hobbies.
Cedric had a Land Rover and he told me on one occasion that the engine crankshaft broke. He duly reported it to the firm whilst he was in Derby, not expecting a
